Sentence Correction

Humans have been damaging the environment for centuries by overcutting trees and farming too
intensively, and though some protective measures, like the establishment of national forests and
wildlife sanctuaries, having been taken decades ago, great increases in population and in the
intensity of industrialization are causing a worldwide ecological crisis.
A. though some protective measures, like the establishment of national forests and wildlife
sanctuaries, having been taken decades ago, great increases in population
B. though some protective measures, such as the establishment of national forests and wildlife
sanctuaries, were taken decades ago, great increases in population
C. though some protective measures, such as establishing national forests and wildlife sanctuaries
having been taken decades ago, great population increases
D. with some protective measures, like establishing national forests and wildlife sanctuaries that
were taken decades ago, great increases in population
E. with some protective measures, such as the establishment of national forests and wildlife
sanctuaries, having been taken decades ago, great population increases.

My thought process to get the answer is:
1)To represent a list we need to use SUCH AS instead of LIKE.
By above logic I eliminated Option A and D.
2)Option C and E are using passive voice, so its not preferred and also they are not parallel.
So I eliminated C and E.
Hence B is the correct answer I think.

Please let me know if this approach is correct?

And also I want to know the concept of Though and With.Which one is correct in this question?

Thanks in advance:)

The correct answer is B.

Please see my explanation below:

Error Analysis:

1. Use of "like" to present examples is incorrect.
2. "though" introduces a dependent clause with a subject and verb. "having been taken" is not a proper verb to make a dependent clause.

Explanation:

Choice A: though some protective measures, like the establishment of national forests and wildlife sanctuaries, having been taken decades ago, great increases in population: Incorrect for the reasons stated above.

Choice B: though some protective measures, such as the establishment of national forests and wildlife sanctuaries, were taken decades ago, great increases in population: Correct. This choice uses the correct idiom "such as" to show examples. "were taken" is a proper verb that makes a dependent clause with "though".

Choice C: though some protective measures, such as establishing national forests and wildlife sanctuaries having been taken decades ago, great population increases: Incorrect. Firstly, it repeats the same "having been taken" error as in Choice A. Secondly, There is a list here. The entities of this list are, per the original choice, great increases "in population" and "in the intensity". In this choice, these two entities are not parallel. We are left to ask what "in the intensity" of industrialization are causing the ecological crisis.

Choice D: with some protective measures, like establishing national forests and wildlife sanctuaries that were taken decades ago, great increases in population: Incorrect. Firstly, use of "with" is incorrect because it fails to establish the contrast that the original sentence presents. Secondly, use of "like" is incorrect.

Choice E: with some protective measures, such as the establishment of national forests and wildlife sanctuaries, having been taken decades ago, great population increases: Incorrect. This choice repeats the wrong use of "with" as in Choice D, the "having been taken" error of choice A and the parallelism error of Choice C.

Takeaways:

1. A clause, dependent or independent, must have an SV pair.
2. "Like" is used for comparison while "such as" is used to present examples.
3. The correct answer choice must convey the intended meaning.

First, split: we need 'such as' rather than 'like'; Eliminate A and D.

Second split: The prepositional phrase introduced by 'with' does not express the contrast that the topic intends to bring about. We do need a contrast marker such as 'though'. Eliminate E

Third split: The subordinate clause introduced by the conjunction 'though' requires a full fledged verb such as 'were'. Eliminate C

Only B remains

Option B correctly used such to introduce examples and uses the correct form of parallelism in the second part.. increases in x and in y.
Error Analysis:
1. Use of "like" to present examples is incorrect.
2. "though" introduces a dependent clause with a subject and verb. "having been taken" is not a proper verb to make a dependent clause.

POE:

Choice A: though some protective measures, like the establishment of national forests and wildlife sanctuaries, having been taken decades ago, great increases in
population: Incorrect for the reasons stated above.

Choice B: though some protective measures, such as the establishment of national forests and wildlife sanctuaries, were taken decades ago, great increases in population: Correct. This choice uses the correct idiom "such as" to show examples. "were taken" is a proper verb that makes a dependent clause with "though".

Choice C: though some protective measures, such as establishing national forests and wildlife sanctuaries having been taken decades ago, great population increases: Incorrect. Firstly, it repeats the same "having been taken" error as in Choice A. Secondly, There is a list here. The entities of this list are, per the original choice, great increases "in population" and "in the intensity". In this choice, these two entities are not parallel. We are left to ask what "in the intensity" of industrialization are causing the ecological crisis.

Choice D: with some protective measures, like establishing national forests and wildlife sanctuaries that were taken decades ago, great increases in population: Incorrect. Firstly, use of "with" is incorrect because it fails to establish the contrast that the original sentence presents. Secondly, use of "like" is incorrect.

Choice E: with some protective measures, such as the establishment of national forests and wildlife sanctuaries, having been taken decades ago, great population
increases: Incorrect. This choice repeats the wrong use of "with" as in Choice D, the "having been taken" error of choice A and the parallelism error of Choice C.